BEST OF THE REST
VIC & BOB’S BIG NIGHT OUT BBC4, 10pm
IT’S a joyful return for Reeves and Mortimer as the boys are back for more Big Nights Out – nearly 30 years since the original series first aired on Channel 4.
There are plenty of new sketches, characters and songs, plus some of Vic’s unique artwork animated into cartoons. There’s also plenty of the usual studiobased stupidity and slapstick and a nice 80s musical turn from Bob.
Happily, we can expect a welcome reappearance of some of the original characters from the 90s, like Judge Nutmeg and his Wheel Of Justice – and yes, Vic still combs its hair.
And it’s as educational as ever, as we learn that Jeremy Paxman is a seriously talented bongo player with surprisingly long arms, and Freddie Mercury used to buy his white vests in multipacks from Asda.
We’d say that it makes sense when you watch it, but it doesn’t – which is why we love it.
THE BABY HAS LANDED BBC2, 9pm
IT’S a brilliantly simple idea: Follow six different families who are preparing for the arrival of a new baby.
The crew films them getting ready for the birth and then into the first few weeks as they attempt to cope with the intense, extraordinary and life-altering experience of being in charge of a tiny new human.
This first episode in the four-part series introduces the families, which include first-time parents Syler and Mo, Nigel and Helen who already have four very young children at home, Paul and Craig, who are expecting twin girls via surrogate Mel, and Hermisha and Shabazz whose two sons are looking forward to the arrival of a baby sister.
If you’ve got kids it could take you back, all wistful and romantic, to those early days when they’re all tiny and magical and smell amazing.
And if you haven’t got children, it could remind you exactly why not.